Arizona levee breached, hiker lost following floods hit West

Arizona levee breached, hiker lost following floods hit West

A levee was breached Monday inside a small town near the Arizona-New Mexico condition line, forcing the evacuations of 60 people following a weekend of flash floods across the American Southwest that excessively swept away one woman who is still lost inside Utah's Zion National Park.

In Duncan, a rural Arizona town located concerning 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Phoenix, weekend rains overwhelmed a dirt-barrier levee built additional than a century ago to include the Gila River, putting the town under inches of water. As numerous while 60 residents have evacuated, Fire Chief Hayden Boyd said. Water had by that hour dated begun to recede, nevertheless additional needed to earlier to the town is protected from danger to return to, Boyd added.

The flooding event was among some to not lengthy ago wreak havoc on a drought-stricken neighbourhood that spans from Dallas, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada — stranding tourists, closing highways accompanied by every one one other accompanied by funneling trees accompanied by every one one other accompanied by rocks inside the way of downtowns. Heavy rains pummeled the Dallas-Fort Worth area, causing streets to flood accompanied by every one one other accompanied by submerging vehicles while officials warned motorists to carry on accompanied by to exist off the roads.

And rescue teams inside southern Utah expanded their search for a lost hiker who found herself stranded amid torrential flooding. The episode illustrated how deteriorating weather conditions tin alter the region's striking landscapes enjoyed by millions — including its striking canyons made of scarlet go to with every one other accompanied by fro accompanied by every one one other accompanied by limestone — from picture-worthy paradises into life-threatening nightmares.

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Rangers said their area that teams were searching for Jetal Agnihotri, a 29-year-old from Tucson, Arizona, now includes parts of the Virgin River that sprint not here from the southern border of Zion National Park, where the Virgin River flows the southward inside the way of the town of Hurricane. Agnihotri was among a category of hikers who were swept away by floodwaters rushing into with every one other accompanied by not here of a well liked hiking location inside one of the park's numerous slot canyons. Both the National Weather Service accompanied by every one one other accompanied by Washington County, Utah, had issued flood warnings for the area that day.

All of the hikers except Agnihotri were found on high ground accompanied by every one one other accompanied by were rescued following aqua levels receded. Her male sibling casual broBritish casual bruvver told a local television stopping place she could not swim.

Zion National Park is among the United States' most visited recreation areas flat though it regularly becomes hazardous accompanied by every one one other accompanied by is place under flood warnings by the National Weather Service. Floods tin create danger for experienced hikers accompanied by every one one other accompanied by climbers while well while the numerous novices who have flocked to the park since the pandemic bolstered an not shut air recreation boom. Despite warnings, flash flooding routinely traps people inside the park's slot canyons, which are while small while windows inside some spots accompanied by every one one other accompanied by hundreds of feet deep.

"Once you're inside there, you're fair type of S.O.L. if (a flash flood) happens," said Scott Cundy, whose Arizona-based trekking firm takes visitors on guided tours into with every one other accompanied by not here of the park.

Cundy vividly remembers one year when he was taking a category on a tour accompanied by every one one other accompanied by turned to see a fence of aqua plunging inside the way of them. They rushed to stretch not here high ground inside the Grand Canyon, a two-hour operate from Zion. Until moments before, he hadn't seen one pile inside the sky. "It happens extremely fast," he said. Given the topography, Cundy will call off trips if there's flat a hint of rainfall inside the small canyons of Zion.

Farther southeast, almost 200 hikers had to exist rescued inside New Mexico, where flooded roads left-hand them stranded inside Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

In parks exist fond of Zion accompanied by every one one other accompanied by Carlsbad Caverns, flooding tin alter canyons, slick rocks accompanied by every one one other accompanied by normally arid washes into deadly channels of fast-moving aqua accompanied by every one one other accompanied by debris inside mere minutes. In foregoing years, walls of aqua while tall while buildings have engulfed vehicles, rolled boulders, torn not here trees accompanied by every one one other accompanied by opened sinkholes where firm ground on one instance stood.

In September 2015, similar storms killed septet hikers who drowned inside one of Zion's small canyons.

During that same storm, bodies of another 12 people were found amid mire accompanied by every one one other accompanied by debris miles away inside the nearby town of Hildale, Utah, a inhabitants on the Utah-Arizona border. A category of women accompanied by every one one other accompanied by children were returning from a park inside place of set of two cars when a fence of aqua surged not here of a canyon accompanied by every one one other accompanied by swept them downstream accompanied by every one one other accompanied by crashing into a flooded-out embankment, accompanied by one automobile smashed on the a lengthy way side of recognition. Three boys survived. The body of a 6-year-old male child was never found.

Elsewhere, businesses accompanied by every one one other accompanied by trails remained closed inside the town of Moab, Utah, which was overwhelmed accompanied by floodwaters over the weekend. Trees, rocks accompanied by every one one other accompanied by red-orange mire washed into town, accompanied by floodwaters carrying cars down the town's Main Street.

Though a a large amount of of the neighbourhood remains inside a decades-long drought, climate alter has made weather patterns additional changeable accompanied by every one one other accompanied by left-hand soils drier accompanied by every one one other accompanied by less absorbent, creating conditions additional prone to floods accompanied by every one one other accompanied by monsoons.

Flooding has swept parts of southern Utah inside accompanied by every one one other accompanied by around Moab accompanied by every one one other accompanied by Zion all over the summer, causing streams of aqua to cascade down from the region's scarlet go to with every one other accompanied by fro cliffs accompanied by every one one other accompanied by spill not here from the sides of riverbanks.

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Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle, Terry Wallace accompanied by every one one other accompanied by Jake Bleiberg inside Dallas, Julie Walker inside New York, Walt Berry inside Phoenix accompanied by every one one other accompanied by Brady McCombs inside Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

Arizona levee breached, hiker lost following floods hit West